Author Topic: macadamia  (Read 1270 times)

achetadomestica

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macadamia
« on: October 16, 2022, 03:33:49 PM »
Has anyone ever rooted macadamia cuttings?

Reedo

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Re: macadamia
« Reply #1 on: October 16, 2022, 05:19:03 PM »
Yes, they can root fairly easily if your girdle your scions before harvesting them. They will still root without girdling, but the success rate is lower.

achetadomestica

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Re: macadamia
« Reply #2 on: October 16, 2022, 05:40:55 PM »
Yes, they can root fairly easily if your girdle your scions before harvesting them. They will still root without girdling, but the success rate is lower.

How long do you girdle them before you root them?

Reedo

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Re: macadamia
« Reply #3 on: October 16, 2022, 05:51:44 PM »
Somewhere between 6 weeks and 6 months, depending on species, location, etc. There have been some studies that outline the process. Here is one that does a nice job outlining grafting. Just follow the steps up until scion harvest, then attempt to root them. Good luck and let me know how it works out.

https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/F_N-47.pdf

achetadomestica

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Re: macadamia
« Reply #4 on: October 16, 2022, 07:02:55 PM »
I watched this video and tried to do 3 cuttings of 2 different types.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFekTvbqnAc

I used the aloe on the fresh cuttings before I potted them up.
I also put 6-10 cuttings in water of the two types of macadamias I tried to root.

I was hoping to get at least one of each type to root?

pagnr

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Re: macadamia
« Reply #5 on: October 17, 2022, 02:21:07 AM »
Also seems to depend on which Macadamia species,  or hybrid, and sometimes variety.
https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:386622
The girdling is sort of pre marcotting ??
Is marcotting a possibility ?
Some plants also respond to banding the stem to exclude light, inducing root nodules to form.
Etiolation.
"Difficult-to-root cuttings often show improved rooting after etiolation "

fruit nerd

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Re: macadamia
« Reply #6 on: October 17, 2022, 03:10:59 AM »
Yes, I believe marcotting macadamia is possible. I saw one for sale on the weekend. No first hand experience.

Jack, Nipomo

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Re: macadamia
« Reply #7 on: October 17, 2022, 08:36:29 AM »
Then there is the question of quality of roots from a cutting compared to a grafted seedling.  I recall some information regarding cutting grown macadamia trees blowing over in high winds in Hawaii due to shallow roots.

Reedo

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Re: macadamia
« Reply #8 on: October 17, 2022, 01:09:58 PM »
There has been a lot of interesting research on macadamia nuts. Given the number of species, and the variation of climates they are grown in, it's probably best to be specific about which species you want to grow, and what your goals are, then look up the research. There have been studies that show some species rooted from cuttings are less vigorous at first. Others have shown that Beaumont roots easily and is used as a rootstock. I have rooted cuttings of Cate and Beaumont planted next to a seedling of Beaumont. The sample size is too small to draw any conclusions, but anecdotally, I don't notice any difference in vigor between the three.

Jack, Nipomo

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Re: macadamia
« Reply #9 on: October 18, 2022, 08:47:33 AM »
How old are the cutting-grown trees? 

Reedo

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Re: macadamia
« Reply #10 on: October 19, 2022, 02:01:56 PM »
How old are the cutting-grown trees?

They're all roughly 3-4 years old.

Jack, Nipomo

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Re: macadamia
« Reply #11 on: October 19, 2022, 03:23:59 PM »
You might have better results, and save some time, by planting a macadamia nut and letting it grow for a year.  The energy in the seed (nut) produces rapid growth, good roots, and is quickly adapted.  Within a year graft to your desired variety using scionwood that has been girdled, as mentioned before.  I have 58 macadamia trees here in Nipomo, half are grafted from HAES and Aus sources. They are about 25 years old or more.  Interestingly, the half of the trees that are planted seedlings (from different sources and ungrafted) do well and crack-out, production and flavor can compete with the grafted varieties.  Grafted trees produce sooner than seedlings, but that is variety dependent.  Here the tetraphylla group is far superior to the integrifolia group in production and nut quality (and the flowers on their racemes are pink whereas the integrifolia group has boring white flowers).  Hawaii tends to plant integrifolia varieties and they might be better with Florida's climate.  Great trees, few pests, worth growing.

Reedo

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Re: macadamia
« Reply #12 on: October 19, 2022, 04:28:31 PM »
You might have better results, and save some time, by planting a macadamia nut and letting it grow for a year.  The energy in the seed (nut) produces rapid growth, good roots, and is quickly adapted.  Within a year graft to your desired variety using scionwood that has been girdled, as mentioned before.  I have 58 macadamia trees here in Nipomo, half are grafted from HAES and Aus sources. They are about 25 years old or more.  Interestingly, the half of the trees that are planted seedlings (from different sources and ungrafted) do well and crack-out, production and flavor can compete with the grafted varieties.  Grafted trees produce sooner than seedlings, but that is variety dependent.  Here the tetraphylla group is far superior to the integrifolia group in production and nut quality (and the flowers on their racemes are pink whereas the integrifolia group has boring white flowers).  Hawaii tends to plant integrifolia varieties and they might be better with Florida's climate.  Great trees, few pests, worth growing.

Wow, thanks for sharing, Jack! You collection sounds awe inspiring. I'm up in Santa Cruz, and have Cate, Beaumont, and a few Beaumont seedlings planted in the ground. Is there a thread in the forum where I could read more about your collection and preferred selections? I have space for more trees and would love to add a few more. If there are additional varieties you'd recommend, I'd love to hear about them. I propagated a lot of other Proteaceae plants for cut flowers (Banksias, proteas, grevilleas, hakeas, leucospermums, leucadendrons, etc.). I also planted out a few Chilean hazelnuts (Gevuina avellana), but am under the impression the nuts aren't nearly as good as macadamia.

Jack, Nipomo

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Re: macadamia
« Reply #13 on: October 19, 2022, 05:39:08 PM »
Our climates are similar and different from that in FLA.  We have done the Protea family also: Banksia, Leucospermum, leucadendrons, Protea flowers.  Many from sources in S. Africa and Aus, but Jo in Ventura (Australia Native Plants) has a great nursery for them too.

As to varieties, the seedlings, in many cases, can be superior to those grafted ones I have.  My best graft is called L-1 (sweet), another is Z-3 due to the nut crackout size, maybe Aus or NZ selections.  Cate does not do well for me here, but it certainly does well in San Diego County.  Couple of the HAES (Hawaii Agricultural Experimental Station) varieties (747, 752) are prolific, but nothing special.  I think I have been more rewarded by seedlings when grown out than variety selections.  Beaumont is a very good variety and a beautiful tree with the red veining pink flowers and drops nuts all year.
I grew out many seedlings to evaluate them and have been pleased with the nut quality.  I did graft selections onto many of the seedlings just to retain the variety.  Did take a number of trees down to an orphanage in Baja CA and they have been successful there and have been reproduced.  We are in sand dune sand 300 ft deep, pH is 5.0.  Earlier (45 yrs ago) I lost little macadamia trees to frost, but since they have matured and hardened off they experience no effects from the cold (and now with "global warming" we don't see the freezes anymore).  Trialing some mangos now, picked one fruit to save a overstressed little tree. This is a gamble.


Reedo

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Re: macadamia
« Reply #14 on: October 19, 2022, 06:09:07 PM »
Our climates are similar and different from that in FLA.  We have done the Protea family also: Banksia, Leucospermum, leucadendrons, Protea flowers.  Many from sources in S. Africa and Aus, but Jo in Ventura (Australia Native Plants) has a great nursery for them too.

As to varieties, the seedlings, in many cases, can be superior to those grafted ones I have.  My best graft is called L-1 (sweet), another is Z-3 due to the nut crackout size, maybe Aus or NZ selections.  Cate does not do well for me here, but it certainly does well in San Diego County.  Couple of the HAES (Hawaii Agricultural Experimental Station) varieties (747, 752) are prolific, but nothing special.  I think I have been more rewarded by seedlings when grown out than variety selections.  Beaumont is a very good variety and a beautiful tree with the red veining pink flowers and drops nuts all year.
I grew out many seedlings to evaluate them and have been pleased with the nut quality.  I did graft selections onto many of the seedlings just to retain the variety.  Did take a number of trees down to an orphanage in Baja CA and they have been successful there and have been reproduced.  We are in sand dune sand 300 ft deep, pH is 5.0.  Earlier (45 yrs ago) I lost little macadamia trees to frost, but since they have matured and hardened off they experience no effects from the cold (and now with "global warming" we don't see the freezes anymore).  Trialing some mangos now, picked one fruit to save a overstressed little tree. This is a gamble.

Very cool, thanks for sharing. If you end up girdling scions, or produce any plants to sell of your favorite selections, I'd love to give them a try. My orchard is on an old landslide on a bowl-shaped hill facing south. Seems to be a warmer-than-typical microclimate for out area, and is also basically pure sand. We're only a few miles from the coast, so we don't get the valley heat, but we're far enough to be outside of the fog on most days.

I'm also experimenting with some mangos. I grafted up a Sweet Tart on a Manila that's in the ground last year. It's off to a slow start, but it didn't have any damage over our milder-than-normal winter. I also grew out some polyembryonic seeds of some of Gary Zill's selections. I think I have about 20 seedlings. I plan on planting all of them out next June in hopes I find a couple spots where they'll grow. Finger crossed! haha...

Jack, Nipomo

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Re: macadamia
« Reply #15 on: October 19, 2022, 07:49:20 PM »
We'll stay in touch and compare our progress.  TFF is a good site for staying in contact with other similarly inclined.  I don't try to sell any, just pass on items through local CRFG...long-time member.  If you happen to come our way, let me know if you have any rootstock available and I'll girdle some scionwood for you.  We are doing a scion exchange in Jan or Feb at Cal Poly SLO and I'll have some girdled scions there of selected trees.  Timing is under discussion now.  Date should be posted on website when a determination is made.  I also have too many avocado varieties-some 60 or so-and I'll cut scions for those for the scion exchange (not 60, but some uncommon ones).

achetadomestica

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Re: macadamia
« Reply #16 on: October 19, 2022, 08:34:55 PM »
You might have better results, and save some time, by planting a macadamia nut and letting it grow for a year.  The energy in the seed (nut) produces rapid growth, good roots, and is quickly adapted.  Within a year graft to your desired variety using scionwood that has been girdled, as mentioned before.  I have 58 macadamia trees here in Nipomo, half are grafted from HAES and Aus sources. They are about 25 years old or more.  Interestingly, the half of the trees that are planted seedlings (from different sources and ungrafted) do well and crack-out, production and flavor can compete with the grafted varieties.  Grafted trees produce sooner than seedlings, but that is variety dependent.  Here the tetraphylla group is far superior to the integrifolia group in production and nut quality (and the flowers on their racemes are pink whereas the integrifolia group has boring white flowers).  Hawaii tends to plant integrifolia varieties and they might be better with Florida's climate.  Great trees, few pests, worth growing.
How long did it take for your seedlings to produce?
Did you happen to know George Anderson in Florida? He had some Aus varieties and
I wonder if they came from you?
And one last question have you attempted to root cuttings?

thanks

pagnr

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Re: macadamia
« Reply #17 on: October 20, 2022, 12:07:22 AM »
Jack, Nipomo said..."Did take a number of trees down to an orphanage in Baja CA and they have been successful there."

I found that truly inspirational, thank you for sharing that.
It has got me thinking along similar possibilities.

« Last Edit: October 20, 2022, 12:09:12 AM by pagnr »

Jack, Nipomo

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Re: macadamia
« Reply #18 on: October 20, 2022, 08:40:05 AM »
Have not tried to root cuttings, yet.  Overdid the macadamia thing when told they would not grow here.  Once a new tree produces there are then lots of seeds to plant. I cannot remember time to production as I had grafted ones too.  Neighbor I supplied seeds just had first crop, about 5 years. I have, over the years, sent seeds around.  Hopefully they are trees now.  Baja CA has been my goto place for many years and fellow CRFG members have provided trees to the orphanage in Colnet.  Inspiring is to see the acreage of trees providing a cash crop to those dedicated folks.

ScottR

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Re: macadamia
« Reply #19 on: October 20, 2022, 12:21:30 PM »
You might have better results, and save some time, by planting a macadamia nut and letting it grow for a year.  The energy in the seed (nut) produces rapid growth, good roots, and is quickly adapted.  Within a year graft to your desired variety using scionwood that has been girdled, as mentioned before.  I have 58 macadamia trees here in Nipomo, half are grafted from HAES and Aus sources. They are about 25 years old or more.  Interestingly, the half of the trees that are planted seedlings (from different sources and ungrafted) do well and crack-out, production and flavor can compete with the grafted varieties.  Grafted trees produce sooner than seedlings, but that is variety dependent.  Here the tetraphylla group is far superior to the integrifolia group in production and nut quality (and the flowers on their racemes are pink whereas the integrifolia group has boring white flowers).  Hawaii tends to plant integrifolia varieties and they might be better with Florida's climate.  Great trees, few pests, worth growing.

Wow, thanks for sharing, Jack! You collection sounds awe inspiring. I'm up in Santa Cruz, and have Cate, Beaumont, and a few Beaumont seedlings planted in the ground. Is there a thread in the forum where I could read more about your collection and preferred selections? I have space for more trees and would love to add a few more. If there are additional varieties you'd recommend, I'd love to hear about them. I propagated a lot of other Proteaceae plants for cut flowers (Banksias, proteas, grevilleas, hakeas, leucospermums, leucadendrons, etc.). I also planted out a few Chilean hazelnuts (Gevuina avellana), but am under the impression the nuts aren't nearly as good as macadamia.

Reed, I'm about 6-miles closer to Qcean from Jack, he is a good friend and have some of his varieties of mac's growing and fruiting along with many proteaceae planted too! I see from your post that you are growing Chilean Hazelnut I can't even count how many seedlings of Gevuina avellana I've killed I can get them up but seem to lose in the next year (damping off) or what ever it might be what special care have you given them? Last try for me was 50 seeds from Germany and got 4-to sprout then within months all died. I have visited the tree at S.C.B.G many times but alas can not get that tree to grow, are yours in ground or pot's. Don't mean to hijack thread ;)

Reedo

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Re: macadamia
« Reply #20 on: October 20, 2022, 02:33:48 PM »

Reed, I'm about 6-miles closer to Qcean from Jack, he is a good friend and have some of his varieties of mac's growing and fruiting along with many proteaceae planted too! I see from your post that you are growing Chilean Hazelnut I can't even count how many seedlings of Gevuina avellana I've killed I can get them up but seem to lose in the next year (damping off) or what ever it might be what special care have you given them? Last try for me was 50 seeds from Germany and got 4-to sprout then within months all died. I have visited the tree at S.C.B.G many times but alas can not get that tree to grow, are yours in ground or pot's. Don't mean to hijack thread ;)

Hi Scott, your collection sounds amazing! It's sounds like I'll have to make a trip down at some point to see what you and Jack are up to!

I have my G. avellana on a north facing slope, growing in dappled shade from nearby oak trees. I amended the soil with peat moss when I planted them, and have given them a little blood meal and kelp meal as fertilizer. Mine are still young, at maybe 3 years old. I had another tree I grew to about 8', but it was in a location that got afternoon sun, and died in a heat wave of 90º+ weather. I can't pretend I've cracked the code to growing them, but at least in my area, it seems lots of shade and water are important. Using similar growing methods for Telopea has worked well so far. Also worth noting, cuttings seem to root relatively easily, so if you can get one to size, you can back it up.

ScottR

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Re: macadamia
« Reply #21 on: October 20, 2022, 06:30:44 PM »
Nice Reed, in the ground I wish you the best of luck growing those guy's to fruiting size. I'm getting to old to do some of those kind of seeds any more but I gave it a hell've a try.
Yeah, any time your down this way stop by thanks for you method of growing the elusive Chilean Hazelnut ( at least for me) ;) 8)